The Radio Boys in the Thousand Islands eBook

“W H Q’s on,” announced Hal presently,
pushing over the horn switch, whereupon the clear
tones of a quartet from the Rochester station was
thrown with amplified resonance out upon the reamplifying
atmosphere of a land-and-water wilderness.

They “sat through” the program with a
degree of enjoyment never before experienced by them
under a radio spell. They could almost imagine
themselves on an enchanted isle with a band of fairy
songsters teasing harmonious echoes out of their surroundings.

“My! I didn’t suppose such weird
beauty of sound could be produced under any possible
conditions,” exclaimed Mr. Perry at the close
of the last number on the program.

“Now the air will be free for all for a short
time,” said Hal, putting on the phones and throwing
back the horn switch, while the other boys also donned
their phones. “I’m going to see if
I can get any of those fellows we talked with on the
way up here.”

“Get that amateur with the radio compass who
proved Mr. Perry’s mathematical theory,”
suggested Bud.

“All right I remember his call and wave length;
so here goes.”

Hal tuned for several moments and sent the call of
the Canadian amateur in question. Then suddenly
he gave a little gasp of surprise. Only Mr. Perry
felt a curiosity as to what it meant, for the other
two boys knew as soon did the boy at the transmitting
key. Someone was calling them and the call he
gave as his own was the Canadian V A X. Then came the
following message:

“Have you not given it up yet, boys? I
did not mean to carry the joke so far. Better
go back home.”

Mr. Perry was waiting patiently for an explanation
of the tense interest manifest in the attitudes of
the three boys. Presently Cub gave it to him,
thus:

“We’re on the trail again, dad. This
fellow we’ve got is posing as Hal’s cousin
and he’s advising us to go back home.”

CHAPTER XVI

Running Down a Radio Fake

“You say you are V A X?” dot-and-dashed
Hal to the amateur who had thus represented himself.